Puerto Rico Sets Goal of 95 Percent Power Restoration in December

Published Oct 14, 2017 at 9:13 PM

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Efrain Diaz Figueroa, right, walks by his sister's home destroyed in the passing of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Maria sent tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans fleeing to the U.S. mainland to escape the immediate aftermath of the storm. The 70-year-old is waiting for a sister to come take him to stay with family in Boston. “I’m going to the U.S. I’ll live better there,” he said.

Puerto Rico’s governor set a goal of reestablishing electric service to 30 percent of the island by the end of the month after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory's infrastructure, with the goal of connecting restoring 95 percent of service by Dec. 15.

More than three weeks after the Hurricane hit, only around 14.6 percent of Puerto Rico had electric service restored, according to the government. Generators were being used to power businesses and other structures.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said in a statement Saturday that the goal was issued "so that our people can have clear and established metrics."

At least 44 deaths in Puerto Rico have been directly and indirectly blamed on the hurricane, which made landfall on Sept. 20. As of Saturday 64 percent of water service had been restored to the island, which has a population of around 3.5 million, according to officials. The devastation has been called a humanitarian disaster.

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